1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns a system and method for measuring steam quality. It is particularly applicable to steam that is being injected into wells such as is done for stimulating production of petroleum.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, there have been proposals for measuring the density of a gas which proposals were broadly applicable to a measurement of steam quality. However, such systems did not contemplate the use of steam as the gas to be measured. And, in addition, all of the known prior systems made use of a resonant chamber or a resonant arrangement, which would determine a relationship between the resonance in a given gas chamber and the density of the gas which had sound waves generated therein. Examples of such known prior arrangements are the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: Rubin 1,570,781, issued Jan. 26, 1926; Mikelson 2,283,750, issued May 19, 1942; F. M. Poole et al, 2,785,567, issued Mar. 19, 1957; and, Bourquard 3,346,065, issued Oct. 10, 1967.
On the other hand, this invention provides for a relatively simple system for measuring the quality of steam. It employs a determination of the amplitude of an acoustic signal (filtered at a particular frequency) as the steam flows through an orifice.